Pierre Gasly delivered an unforgettable performance at the Italian Grand Prix, clinching his inaugural Formula One pole position and upending the usual order of the sport's front‑runners. The Alpine driver, who had just seen his podium from the Monaco Grand Prix stripped away for a second time following a court decision, turned heads by mounting a serious threat throughout the high‑speed qualifying session at Monza. Entering the final segment of qualifying, Q3, Gasly sat third on the leaderboard.
Rather than rushing to set his best time early, he held back, saving his freshest lap for the very last run. When the opportunity arrived, the Frenchman unleashed a blistering lap of 1:21.786, overtaking provisional pole‑sitter George Russell by a razor‑thin margin of 0.060 seconds and seizing the coveted top spot.
This achievement marks Gasly's first pole in his 190th Grand Prix start, coming six years after his sole career victory – also at Monza – which he secured in a dramatically unexpected fashion while driving for AlphaTauri. The pole is historic for Alpine as well: it is the first time the Enstone‑based, Renault‑owned team has ever started from the front of the grid, and the first pole for any Renault‑linked outfit since 2009. Russell, who had led the session before Gasly's final lap, was left to rue a "messy" start to his final attempt, hampered by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen opening the lap.
Despite missing out on pole, the Mercedes driver will line up second on the front row. His teammate, championship‑leading Kimi Antonelli, will be forced to the back of the grid because of an engine‑change penalty, even though he helped Russell with a tow during qualifying and posted a respectable seventh‑fastest time.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri originally qualified third, but a three‑place grid penalty for blocking Red Bull’s Liam Lawson in Q2 dropped him to sixth. This promotion lifted Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to third and fourth respectively, while Verstappen was pushed into fifth. The Scuderia, which had hoped to fight for pole, instead found itself on the second row after a lackluster qualifying run that failed to deliver the expected one‑lap speed. Their fortunes were only marginally saved by the fact that Audi rookie Gabriel Bortoleto finished a hair’s breadth – 0.001 seconds – behind Hamilton for tenth place in Q2, ensuring both Ferraris made the top ten.
The provisional top ten after penalties read as follows: 1) Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 2) George Russell (Mercedes), 3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)*, 4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 7) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)**, 8) Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 9) Lando Norris (McLaren), 10) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls). *Piastri carries a three‑place grid drop; **Antonelli will start from the back due to engine penalties. Reigning champion Lando Norris, who had enjoyed a string of poles and race wins before the summer break, qualified only ninth.
He lost a tow on his final lap after Piastri’s error at the first chicane, but the penalty to Antonelli promoted Norris to eighth on the grid. With the championship leader forced to the rear, Alpine’s second driver Franco Colapinto moved up to seventh, followed by Norris in eighth and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad in ninth. The weekend’s drama began on Friday when the FIA International Court of Appeal reinstated Gasly’s pit‑lane speeding penalties from Monaco, demoting his result from third to seventh – a second reversal of the same incident. The prospect of Alpine responding with a pole‑winning performance seemed unlikely at the time.
Alpine’s season this year has improved dramatically compared to the dismal 2025 campaign, when the team finished at the bottom of the constructors’ standings and had never started a race higher than seventh on the grid. In the final practice session at Monza, Gasly was ninth fastest, a full 0.6 seconds off Russell’s benchmark. Yet the Mercedes‑powered A526 appeared to have found a sweet spot on its rear‑wing configuration for the circuit’s ultra‑fast layout, and Gasly turned that potential into a pole‑winning package.
The qualifying narrative unfolded methodically. Gasly topped Q1, then continued his momentum in Q2 by posting the fourth‑fastest time, staying ahead of the pole favourite Russell.
In the opening runs of Q3, Russell set the fastest time, but Gasly lingered close behind, only 0.072 seconds off the lead. When the final run arrived, the Alpine driver capitalised on a mistake by Piastri, who locked up at the first chicane, and on Russell’s compromised warm‑up lap. Gasly seized the moment, delivering a flawless lap that vaulted him into the top spot. The Alpine garage erupted in celebration as the pole position was confirmed.
An elated Gasly shouted into the team radio, "Yessssss! Let's go.
I've been waiting for that one!" In his post‑qualifying interview, he reflected on the significance of the achievement: "From the first lap in Q1, I felt very good in the car. I tried to chip away a little bit, every single session, and it felt like a very good lap. It's been nine years trying to chase the opportunity to get a pole. I won my first race in Monza and got my first pole at this track.
It's something special around here." Russell, ever the sportsman, paid tribute to his French rival, noting that Gasly had also bested him at a game of chess just before the session. "Massive congrats to Pierre. That's an incredible performance," he said. "We were finishing a game of chess about 15 minutes before qualifying and he beat me there and I went 'well, I think I will beat you in qualifying' and here we are, he's ahead of me again!
Huge congrats to him. I was disappointed to not get pole position. It was a bit messy with Verstappen opening the lap, I did the lap very close, but Pierre and Alpine have been super fast." The weekend schedule includes a packed programme: the F3 Feature Race at 7:10 am, the F2 Feature Race at 8:40 am, the Porsche Supercup at 10:40 am, followed by the build‑up events for the Grand Prix. The Italian Grand Prix itself is slated for a 2 pm start, with the chequered flag expected at 4 pm and post‑race analysis to follow.
Fans can watch the action live on Sky Sports F1 or stream via NOW, with no long‑term contract required. In summary, Gasly’s pole at Monza is a landmark moment for both driver and team. It underscores how persistence, strategic car development, and a bit of luck can converge to produce a career‑defining result, especially on a circuit that has already gifted him his sole victory.
The stage is now set for an exciting race where Alpine will look to convert that pole into a podium, while the rest of the grid scrambles to respond to the surprise at the front of the pack.